Baker, Jurek, Williams, Painter round out top five; Weber leads group of Hall of Famers in sixth through ninth

Mike Edwards of Tulsa, Okla., a titlist on the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour, continued to set the pace after second round qualifying Wednesday in the PBA50 Dayton Classic presented by Roto Grip, leading 28 players who advanced to match play.

Edwards, who led after Tuesday’s first round, finished the second round at Capri Lanes in Kettering, Ohio, with a 3,840 16-game pinfall total (240 average) to hold a 71-pin lead over Hall of Famer Tom Baker of King, N.C., who is in second with 3,769. Edwards bowled games of 279, 235, 229, 224, 247, 248, 177 and 238 in the second round.

“I’m able to stay ahead of my game and keep everything in front of me,” said the 52-year-old Edwards. “I haven’t had to change a whole lot which has enabled me to stay in a good rhythm.

“Anything can happen when you get to match play, but it gives you a lot of confidence when you qualify well,” he added. “I’m going to stay with my game plan and just be prepared to go to plan B or C, but hopefully I won’t have to do that.”

Edwards, who owns one PBA Tour title, is trying for his second career PBA50 Tour title having won the 2012 United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters in his PBA50 Tour rookie season. This season he has best finishes of third and eighth, which came in the USBC Senior Masters and Suncoast PBA Senior U.S. Open, respectively.

Rounding out the top five were Jack Jurek, Lackawana, N.Y., 3,744; Hall of Famer and two-time defending PBA50 Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr., Ocala, Fla., 3,722, and Kerry Painter, Henderson, Nev., 3,720.

Last week’s Pro Bowl West Fort Wayne Classic winner Pete Weber of St. Ann, Mo., led a group of four Hall of Famers who finished sixth through ninth. Weber had a 3,686 pinfall followed by Dayton Classic defending champion Randy Pedersen, Orlando, 3,655; Norm Duke, Clermont, Fla., 3,634, and Brian Voss, Alpharetta, Ga., who tied for ninth with Tracy Teeters, Salem, Ore. with 3,623.

After Thursday’s match play rounds, the top four players will advance to the stepladder finals which are scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. ET.